Ed Tait of the Winnipeg Free Press: Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff said that Evander Kane could be with the team for the forseeable future, and he wasn’t going to touch trade rumors.

“It’s very difficult right now in hockey,” began Cheveldayoff. “You’ve got the draft and all the different things like free agency that come up and as you guys all know, there’s rumours that abound each and every day that send everyone in different directions. I can only imagine as a player what goes through your mind when you hear, ‘So and so’s being traded and different things like that.’ It’s got to be difficult. They’re all professional hockey players and they’re all subject to those kind of things. Even when you have your general manager like I’ve been saying, I’m open to look to see if there’s ways to make improvements on this team. Without singling out any individual everyone starts to wonder what’s going on.

“With specific reference to Evander and the situation where he was asked those questions, I think he’s been asked those questions year after year after year since he’s been here and certainly since the time he’s signed the contract.

“So, Evander is a Winnipeg Jet. What I took from his comments, is he’s excited about being healthy and training this summer and really looking forward to having a solid summer of training. He had some minor surgery last year that derailed some of the training side of things.”

“We had maybe one talk with them, and then we called them a bunch of times with no calls back,” Ott said. “That’s about as honest as I can get. I guess they didn’t have much interest at all.”

Elliotte Friendman on the Fan 960 this week.

1. Don’t be shocked to see defenceman Christian Ehrhoff, who’s on a one-year deal, re-sign an extension with the Pittsburgh Penguins after Jan. 1. 2. Flyers GM Ron Hextall isn’t going to give Vinny Lecavalier away in a trade. People forget the veteran scored 20 goals in just 69 games last season. 3. The Winnipeg Jets recognize they need to trade Evander Kane. They also realize it’s “an easy trade to lose.” Kane likely starts the season in a Jets sweater. 4. A divorce between Cody Franson and the Maple Leafs appears like it will happen eventually. The Calgary Flames could be a good fit for the body-checker.

Chip Alexander: Chad LaRose is wanting to meet with Francis to talk about potentially returning to the Hurricanes. He didn’t play last season. Francis said they could end up offering LaRose a training camp tryout or possibly starting the the season in the AHL. Francis: “Obviously, he’d need to earn his way, show he can still do it.”